Obama' filmmaker out at NY evangelical college

FILE - This Feb. 1, 2007 file photo shows Dinesh D'Souza in Williamsburg, Va. The conservative scholar behind a high-grossing film that condemns President Barack Obama resigned Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012 as head of an evangelical college after a report about his engagement to a woman while still legal

/ AP

FILE - This Feb. 1, 2007 file photo shows Dinesh D'Souza in Williamsburg, Va. The conservative scholar behind a high-grossing film that condemns President Barack Obama resigned Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012 as head of an evangelical college after a report about his engagement to a woman while still legally married to his wife. (AP Photo/Daily Press, Heather S. Hughes)

FILE - This Feb. 1, 2007 file photo shows Dinesh D'Souza in Williamsburg, Va. The conservative scholar behind a high-grossing film that condemns President Barack Obama resigned Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012 as head of an evangelical college after a report about his engagement to a woman while still legally married to his wife. (AP Photo/Daily Press, Heather S. Hughes) (/ AP)

RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer

A conservative scholar behind a high-grossing film that condemns President Barack Obama resigned Thursday as head of an evangelical college after becoming engaged to a woman while still married to his wife.

The board of The King's College announced president Dinesh D'Souza was stepping down immediately following its discussion with him during a marathon meeting to decide his future.

D'Souza, director of the anti-Obama documentary "2016: Obama's America," has said he's done nothing wrong. In a statement he posted on his website Thursday, D'Souza said, "it is time to move on."

"My resignation will enable The King's College to go forward without distraction," he said. "And it will also enable me to address personal matters in my life as well as to pursue new opportunities made possible by success of my recent book and film."

D'Souza resigned two days after the evangelical magazine WORLD reported he spoke at a Christian values conference in South Carolina and took along his fiancee, Denise Odie Joseph II. Organizers said they confronted D'Souza after concluding that he and Joseph had shared a hotel room while attending the gathering.

D'Souza denied staying in the same room as Joseph. He said he and his wife, Dixie, had been separated since 2010. D'Souza filed for divorce in California a few days after the South Carolina event, according to court records.

After the WORLD report, he called off his engagement.

The King's College, which was located in the Empire State Building before moving this year to lower Manhattan, says it aims to shape young Christians as future leaders in business, politics, finance and media.

"After careful consultation with the board and with Dinesh, we have accepted his resignation to allow him to attend to his personal and family needs," the college's board said in its statement.

Board chairman Andy Mills will take over as interim president while a search begins for D'Souza's successor.

"God has a mighty future for Dinesh, but there are some things he has to go through first," Mills told students on Thursday, according to The Empire State Tribune, the college's newspaper.

D'Souza is a former policy analyst under President Ronald Reagan and a prolific author known most recently for his critical works on Obama. His film was condemned by many critics, including Newsday's Rafer Guzman, who called it an "attempt at character assassination," but it has become one of the most successful political documentaries ever released, grossing more than $32 million.